So Long, Marianne
by strawberryfields841
Summary: After Spin City Leo goes on a quest to find out more about the son that hates him. Meanwhile, Chris starts a completely unexpected adventure of his own when he meets a girl named Marianne
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone. I am…sort of new to the Charmed fandom. I wrote a couple fics when I was _very_ young and _very _inexperienced. Since then I have spread out to other fandoms and (I hope) improved. Haha. I have started watching Charmed in the mornings on TNT before I go to class and it's gotten me back in the mood to write again. The last time I wrote a Charmed fic season six was still airing. Lol. But anyway, I hope you enjoy it. I absolutely love Chris' story line and I didn't get enough awkward Chris and Leo moments so this is my way of making it up for it. Lol.

As far as this fic goes it is set after Spin City but Piper did not move to magic school. That is really the only big change in the timeline so far, and it will be pretty AU from here on out. Also, you might think that people are being a little harsh with each other (I hope you don't, however). But just in case you do it is because I didn't like the way that after Chris' identity was revealed things got a little mushy. I am not a mushy person. Lol. I promise there will be a few really lovely moments in this fic but there will also be a lot of snarkiness. One of the things I loved the most about Chris was his snarkiness. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Please review!

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Charmed.

**Summary: **After Spin City Leo goes on a quest to find out more about the son that hates him. Meanwhile, Chris starts a completely unexpected adventure of his own when he meets a girl named Marianne

**So Long, Marianne**

**Chapter One**

He was a slob. But now Leo was delving into information that he already knew. His purpose in coming here – breaking in here if he was honest with himself – was to learn something he didn't know about the son who hated him so much. He certainly wasn't offering up the information himself. Leo comforted himself with the fact that this probably wasn't the first time Chris had been subject to his father going through his things. He knew Chris well enough to know that at least.

This is where Chris' tendencies actually became useful. The kid probably hadn't thrown a single thing away in weeks. He knew right away that he had less than a stellar diet, as evidenced by the copious amounts of fast food bags and wrappers thrown around the room. But Leo wasn't here to find out what kind of food Chris was eating. Aside from some mild parental concern about the future of his son's cholesterol levels he didn't really care about the McDonalds.

In truth he didn't really know what he was looking for in particular. Anything that would give him some kind of understanding about what his son was really like would be fine. On a more personal level he was fairly confident in thinking that Chris didn't spend _every _waking hour of his day obsessing over Wyatt. After all there was only so much the human mind could handle before it became completely unhinged. Chris was a bit neurotic but he wasn't what Leo would classify as insane.

Rummaging through the piles of wadded up papers and clothes strewn on the floor, he was able to find a few of what he assumed to be Chris' possessions. A half full pack of Lucky Strikes (that find he wasn't particularly thrilled about), a silver Zippo lighter, and five CDs - Who's Next, Abbey Road, In Utero, Highway 61 Revisited, and Leonard Cohen Live in London. It was typical of Chris not to take any chances bringing any modern albums with him. That being said….he couldn't complain about the kid's taste in music. He was certainly Paige's nephew.

Next to the small pile of CDs he found a tattered copy of Baudelaire's _The Flowers of Evil _stuffed with tiny notes and pictures. He didn't have time to go through them so he slipped the small book of poems into his pocket, choosing not to feel as guilty as he should. If Chris would only talk to him he wouldn't have to do this.

Lastly, he found a wad of money folded neatly into a tarnished and silver and gold money clip. The silver was so old that it was beginning to look as yellow as the gold around its edges, but somehow he could still make out the name 'Christopher' engraved along the top. His heart stopped beating for a moment and he slowly, as if afraid to move too quickly, brought his hand to his pocket and reached inside to take out the few bills that he had folded in his own money clip. He placed the clips together side by side – the same clips. One marked by twenty-two more years of wear, but the same none the less. Christopher's money clip – his father's – his son's. It was the one thing Leo had less of his family. He had stolen it from his father's estate sale in 1957 after he had spent the day stalking what was left of his family in the shadows, trying desperately not to be seen.

It suddenly hit him then in a wave of realization far more powerful than what he felt in the kitchen upon hearing the face for the first time – Chris was his son, his father's grandson, his legacy, his progeny, the continuation of a gene pool that was supposed to have died out in 1942. Chris was the person who carried along the legacy of Christopher Wyatt with nothing more than a name and a money clip, and Chris' children would carry along his much in the same way.

He suddenly felt so….odd. He wasn't exactly sure how to describe what he as feeling. He was…confused?

The door to the backroom spontaneously opened and much to his extreme relief Piper appeared on the other side. She looked at him with a coked eyebrow before noticing his hands still holding two folds of money. Once she got over the shock of seeing him standing there instead of her son, she crossed her arms over the top of her bulging stomach.

"Are you stealing money from your broke twenty-two year old son?" she asked.

Leo jumped with a sudden realization of what the situation he found himself in might look like. Although he also knew that Piper wasn't being entirely serious…at least he hoped she wasn't.

"What? No….I was just…." Leo didn't quite know how to tell her what she was doing without ending up sounding like crazy person.

"Well whatever you were doing can you stop? Because I need some help with some boxes out here and since Chris is gone you will do just fine." Piper turned around and walked toward the bar where a shipment of Budweiser had just been dropped off.

Leo watched her go before looking down once more at the two billfolds in his hands. That strange indescribable feeling bubbled up again and he decided to slip a single twenty dollar bill out of his wallet and place is inconspicuously in between the four one dollar bills which were all that Chris had at the moment. Then he set the money clip back where he had found it.

When he walked out to the bar Piper was writing something on a pad of paper. Her eyes looked slightly sunken and her hair was a bit unkempt.

"You look tired," Leo stated. Piper gave him a sardonic look.

"Well you try being well….first of all…mortal, pregnant, running a business and taking care of three children all on your own."

A flash of confusion passed over Leo's face. "Three children?"

"Wyatt, Phoebe, and Paige," she answered with a smirk. Leo let out a short breath of laughter.

"Oh…" he said, picking up one of the heavy boxes of beer on the floor. "What about Chris?" he asked, braving the mention of his newly found son. Piper didn't even look up from whatever it was she was doing.

"Chris doesn't need anyone to take care of him but himself," looking up for a moment to judge the look on his face. Leo wasn't looking at her but rather absentmindedly playing with the edge of the box he had just placed on the bar. "I thought you would have realized that by now…"

"I…I don't really know what to think of him anymore…" Leo admitted.

"Well he's still the same person he was five months ago."

"I….I didn't really like him five months ago."

"Well….I'm not too terribly fond of Phoebe at the moment but I still love her."

Leo nodded. He wasn't quite sure what to do with his feelings about Chris at the moment. He felt guilty….guilty that he didn't really like his own son? Guilty that perhaps he was too quick to dislike him? He wasn't sure. He hadn't been this emotionally confused since he had left to become an Elder.

He was still playing with the edge of the red cardboard box when finally Piper walked over to him with a pair of scissors. She sliced through the package and began pulling beers out, placing them on the counter to later be put in the fridge in the hopes of getting cold before the bar opened for the night.

"I just…." Leo said as he ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know what I should do…."

"Leo…I…"

They were suddenly interrupted by the sound of a door slamming and heavy footsteps pounding down the stairs. As they turned to look toward the noise they saw Chris coming down wearing sweatpants and a pair of headphones, looking at them suspiciously. As the three of them stared at each other Chris began to slow his decent down the stairs and popped one ear bud out of his ear. Once Piper returned to her work Chris picked up his normal pace and walked toward the bar, past Leo.

"Hi!" Leo said with just a little too much cheery enthusiasm. He had put so much effort into not sounding awkward that he had made the atmosphere too awkward for words. Piper bit down on her lip trying desperately not to laugh at him and Chris looked as if he had grown a second head.

"Hi!" Chris replied in a mocking tone before turning back around and grabbing one of the newly shipped bottles of beer. He placed the ear bud back in his ear and walked to his door.

"Are you going to pay for that?" Piper yelled behind him. The only answer she received was a slamming door. "BRAT!"

"Piper…" Leo said, upset that his wife was still being mean to the boy they had just found out was theirs. "He's our son…." He reminded.

"Exactly," Piper said. "So I have no issue calling him a SPOILED BRAT if I want to."

"Piper…"

"Leo," Piper said pleadingly. "Please don't fall into the trap of treating him like an egg just because you feel like you need to make up for something….it will just piss him off more. Trust me."

The door opened to Chris' room once more and he stepped out with a distasteful look on his face. "This beer is warm…"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Can you please come over here so I can smack you across the face? Don't you have work to do? Shouldn't you be researching and trying to save your brother instead of jogging around and drinking at one o'clock in the afternoon?"

"One warm bottle of piss-water constitutes drinking at one in the afternoon? And jogging clears my head. I have a lot to think about…."

"Speaking of things to think about… Phoebe wants to talk to you about something. She says it's important."

"I'm not entirely sure how those are related but I give you points for _trying_ to stay on topic."

"That's all I can do," Piper said, shrugging. Chris orbed out to see Phoebe, leaving Piper and Leo alone once more.

"Did he even notice I was still here?" Leo asked. Piper smiled and squeezed his arm, offering whatever small comfort she could. She knew how he felt and she wouldn't want to go back to the time where Chris treated her as a non-person for anything.

"Just give it time," she said.

* * *

The Bay Mirror was as busy as it usually was. Chris never seemed to walk into this place without colliding with some terrified intern carrying a stack of papers. He didn't understand how she could work in a place where the phone never stopped ringing.

"Hi! Can I help you?"

Chris jumped back at the receptionist's saccharine tone. She smiled widely at him and Chris got the impression that she was the kind of girl who didn't like Bob Dylan because he was 'just so gloomy all the time.'

"Hi…" he said. "I'm here to see Phoebe Halliwell."

"Super! Is she expecting you?"

"She should be…"

"Are you her nephew?" Chris groaned. Leave it to Phoebe to toss all sense of discretion out the window.

"Yes," he admitted with a sigh.

"Alrighty, well you go right on in!"

"Thanks…" Chris said before leaving the front desk and walking toward his aunt's office. When he opened the door Phoebe looked up and smiled.

"Chris!" she said. "Good. You're here. I have a certain favor to ask of you…"

Chris took a deep breath as he was suddenly filled with anxiety. A favor for Phoebe was never good.

"You see…Elise has been on my case lately with all the time I've well….you know…missed. And she was talking about her niece being in town and her having nothing to do and no one her age to talk to and I thought…."

"No."

"Hey….you know what? I happen to know a young attractive guy…"

"No."

"…who could take her out. Show her around... "

"No."

"And well…Elise seemed to be just _thrilled _about the idea…"

"Phoebe. No!"

Phoebe spread her arms out over her desk and bowed her head in a pleading gesture. "Please Chris," she begged. "I can't be fired. Elise hates me right now. I _need _you to do this for me. It's only _one _night!"

"Phoebe….even if I _wanted _to go out on a blind date with the _niece_ of your bitchy boss, I don't have _time_. I'm kinds busy…um… saving Wyatt from turning evil!"

"First of all Elise may be little hard around the edges but she is a _great _person. You just don't know her as well as I do. And Chris…I promise if you do this one thing for me I will spend all night following your leads. Tell me a demon to kill! I'll kill it! Just please! _Pleeeaaaseee_!"

"Phoebe. I. Don't. Have. Time."

"Okay!" Phoebe said, sitting up in her desk once more. "I didn't want to use this card. But you _owe _me."

"I _owe _you!" Chris asked. "What could I possibly owe you for?"

"I helped you when you thought you weren't going to be conceived!"

"What!" Chris yelled. "Are you insane? You didn't do _anything_!"

"Well, you're here aren't you?" Phoebe asked, gesturing to him standing in front of her.

"From no help from you!"

"Alright! Alright! Fine! You don't owe me," Phoebe admitted. "But please, Chris. I will do _anything._"

"Phoebe…"

"I'll pay you!"

This actually caught Chris' attention as he thought back to his rapidly thinning wallet. He was very quickly running out of money, and the only reason he had lasted this long was because his grandfather had slipped him some before he left when he visited a few weeks earlier. He had no way of attaining a legal income due to the fact that he didn't technically exist. And the thought of asking either one of his parents for money was completely out of the question.

"How much?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"A hundred bucks," Phoebe offered.

"Three hundred."

"What!" Phoebe asked, shocked. "Who the hell taught you to haggle? You can't just _triple _the original offer!"

"Look…that's the price. If you don't want to pay it, that's not my problem."

"Fine," Phoebe said through clenched teeth. "Three hundred."

Chris cocked his head to the side. "You know….now I'm thinking that's not going to do it for me."

Phoebe glared at her nephew for a moment with an unquenchable desire to smack that self-satisfied smirk off his face. She loved him, and she understood that he had come from a world where he had to be a crafty little shit to survive but sometimes she just hated him for being such an ass.

"Three hundred plus the cost of the date," Phoebe said finally. "But don't go thinking that you can get away with taking her to any five star restaurants. And you'd better be nice!"

Chris smirked. "When am I not nice?"

"And you'd better look nice too!" Phoebe yelled as he began to orb away. "Get a haircut! … Butthead."

* * *

"Did you get a haircut? And….shave?" Piper asked as she walked into the attic with Wyatt on her hip. Chris was standing in front of the book (as always) and looking very nice for some reason. His hair was shorter than she had ever seen it. It made him look older, cleaner….dare she say….more handsome? More handsome than she had ever noticed him being before certainly. His long hair had always made him look so….boyish.

Chris reached up to move a hand through his much shorter hair. It was still taking him some getting used to. "Phoebe is paying me to take out Elise's niece. I was told I needed to look nice and get a haircut to get paid."

Piper let out an involuntary and unattractive scoff. As handsome as she was now beginning to see her youngest son was, he was certainly not very charming.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Chris asked, looking at his mother with a critical gaze.

"Nothing…" she said. "You just don't seem like the dating type is all."

"First of all…" Chris began. "This isn't a date. It's a business arrangement. And second of all…I'll have you know that I was pretty successful in that area."

"Oh. I know. I met your…" Piper trailed off at her son's piercing look. "Person….who I promised never to mention again. Sorry."

"And I'll also have you know that this isn't exactly how I wanted to be spending my evening but I need money so…"

"Well you could always ask me if you need money…"

"No," Chris said definitively. "I came from a decrepit hell hole governed by evil I can handle one night with junior miss stick up her ass." He tore a piece of paper out of a notebook and handed it to her. "Tell Phoebe these are all the demons I need her to vanquish while I'm gone."

"She's paying you _and_ going demon hunting?"

Chris shrugged. "I drive a hard bargain," he said.

"I'll remember that," Chris started to make his way downstairs and Piper followed him.

"Are you sure that this is the best idea? I mean…what if something happens between you and this girl? Wouldn't that kind of screw up the cosmic order of things?" Chris turned around and shook his head.

"Mom, this is Elise's niece," Chris said. "Trust me, nothing is going to happen between us. In a week she won't even remember my name."

"You don't know that….you could end up liking her," Piper said as they made their way into the kitchen. She set Wyatt down in his highchair as Chris popped open the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of beer. Chris turned to face his mother and shook his head as he twisted off the cap and took a sip.

"Trust me. I've met Elise. I don't see myself falling for any relative of hers. And, also, I'm still kind of mourning the death of my finance and I don't see myself getting over that any time soon. All that's going to happen tonight is me getting three hundred dollars richer."

"Three _hundred _dollars. You weren't kidding about driving a hard bargain," Piper said with wide eyes. Chris shrugged as a swirl of orbs appeared in between them in the kitchen. Chris rolled his eyes as Leo appeared and suddenly made what was a normal moment between him and his mother another awkward silence.

"Hey…" Leo said, looking back and forth between his wife and son. Piper smiled at him.

"Hi," she said.

"What are you two up to tonight?" Leo asked awkwardly. Chris rolled his eyes again.

"Chris has a date," Piper said. Leo cocked and eyebrow at his son who was staring at his mother with a less than pleased look on his face.

"_Business arrangement_," he clarified. This seemed to only heighten Leo's confusion.

"Phoebe bribed Chris to take out Elise's niece in what I assume is a desperate attempt to smooth over tensions at the workplace."

"And you agreed?" Leo asked. For the first time that day Chris actually acknowledged his father.

"It was a hefty bribe," he explained. Leo nodded.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Couldn't there be consequences…"

"Yeah, we've already had this conversation," Chris said. "Trust me. There's nothing to worry about."

"Uh oh…" Paige said as she walked into the kitchen where the three of them were standing. "Did I just hear someone say 'There's nothing to worry about?' Because that usually means there is something to worry about in this family."

Piper smirked. "It's fine. We were just talking about Chris' date tonight."

"_Business arrangement!_" Chris emphasized once more.

Paige lit up and crossed her arms over her chest. "Date?" She asked, shooting Chris an oh-so-amused look. "Is it that new blonde bartender that won't stop staring at you?"

"What?" Piper asked, completely caught off guard about the fact that apparently her bar staff was ogling her son. Chris glared at Paige.

"No," he said. "Phoebe is paying me to take out Elise's niece for the night."

Paige cringed. "Oh…" she said, scrunching her nose. "I'm sorry."

Chris nodded. "Speaking of Phoebe..." Chris said, looking around. "Where the hell is she? I am supposed to use her car tonight."

"I'm here! I'm here!" Phoebe yelled as she ran excitedly into the room waving her car keys in the air. She handed them to Chris along with a giant wad of cash that caused a huge smile to grace his face. "She should be here any minute. Elise was going to drop her off."

"Great," Chris said, not even bothering to fake real enthusiasm.

"Thank you soooo much Chris. You're the _best_!" She said. Chris just nodded as he pulled out the money clip in his wallet. He slipped it off the few dollar bills he had in order to place the new ones inside when he suddenly noticed something he didn't realize was there.

"Hey…I just found twenty bucks I didn't know I had…" he said as he placed the billfold back in his pocket. "Sweet." Leo looked down at the floor and Piper turned to look at him questioningly. But before anyone could say anything else the doorbell rang.

"That's her!" Phoebe exclaimed as she ran to the door. Chris followed her reluctantly along with the rest of his family and stopped in the dining room where they could get a good look at the door.

"Hello!" Phoebe greeted as she opened the door. "You must be Marianne. I'm Phoebe. It's so nice to meet you!"

"Hullo…" They heard a very sweet and very _British _voice announce behind the door. Chris now understood why she might be so desperate to have someone to do something with. She was probably staying with her aunt for an extended period of time and all of her friends were halfway around the world.

Paige gave him a little shove and he walked forward reluctantly to meet her. As Phoebe brought her around the door and she finally turned to face Chris.

It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before – a complete and total cliché, really. But when she turned around to face him it was as if she moved in slow motion. Her soft red curls bounced ever so slightly and a smile lit up her face, making her green eyes absolutely sparkle. She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and reached her perfectly manicured hand out to Chris.

"Hi, I'm Marianne. You must be Chris."

She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in real life.

* * *

**TBC….**

I hope you liked it. Please review. It would mean a lot to me and encourage me to keep going.


	2. Chapter 2

Hi there! Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up for those of you who were waiting. It was Midterm time so I had to take a moment to focus on tests and papers. Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed! I really appreciate it. If you haven't reviewed please do! It really _does_ motivate me to write.

**So Long Marianne**

**Chapter Two **

_"Hi, I'm Marianne. You must be Chris."_

Chris wasn't sure when he turned back into a sixteen-year-old boy who forgot how to speak as soon as he came face to face with a pretty girl. Luckily, he was able to snap out of it before he made a complete fool out of himself. He lifted his hand up to shake hers and put on the most charming smile he could muster.

"Hi," he said as her smooth hand slipped into his. "Yes, I'm Chris. It's nice to meet you."

Behind him he heard his mother snort again and he turned around to glare at her. Marianne looked between his family in confusion. They all had a mix of indescribable looks on their faces and she wasn't exactly sure what to be thinking at the moment. Chris placed a hand in the small of her back and pushed her gently toward his family in the dining room.

"Allergies…" Piper said in an attempt to explain her snort. Leo smiled uncomfortably and Paige was biting her lip to keep from laughing at the new state of things.

"Marianne, this is Piper my….other aunt, and Paige and Leo…"

"It's lovely to meet all of you," Marianne answered. "I'm sorry. Would you mind terribly if I used the loo?"

"Of course-" Piper was quickly interrupted by Chris.

"Sure thing," he said walking with her up to the landing on the stairs. "It's just that room there on the left," he stood there and watched as she got to where she was going. When she closed the door behind her he spun on his heel and skipped down the stairs to his family.

"Well you've certainly turned over a new leaf…" Paige mumbled with a quick arch of her eyebrows. Chris pointed in the direction of the stairs.

"Did you see her?" Chris asked.

"Yes, Chris. We saw her," Piper said. "She's very pretty."

"_Pretty_!" Chris asked. "Leo," Chris said, turning to the only other man among them for support. "Leo, come on. You saw her right?"

"Yeah," Leo released with a breath. Chris gestured to his father as if he had just given all the answers needed to explain Chris' change in demeanor. Piper turned around a sent him an unsatisfied glare. He made the ruse of clearing his throat and looked down at his feet.

"Yeah…Piper is right. Very pretty. Very pretty."

Piper rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "See, I knew that this was going to be a bad idea. I don't think we should open up this can of worms…You're too attracted to her."

"Mom, a blind gay man would be attracted to her!"

"Oh, now you're being ridiculous."

"I dunno…" Leo said. "I think Piper might be right. This might have consequences that could seriously screw up the space/time continuum."

Chris rolled his eyes. "What consequences? If there were consequences for every person I interacted with in the past the whole universe would have crumbled by now. It's fine."

"I'm not worried about everyday interactions…." Piper said with a pointed look. Paige let out a slow and amused laugh and Leo shuffled his feet in discomfort. Chris lifted a hand to his heart and feigned hurt.

"Now I get the feeling that you are doubting my gentlemanly honor."

"Oh brother…" Paige said.

"Can it," Piper said. She turned to Phoebe who had been standing there biting her lip and furrowing her brow in worry this while time. "You're going to have to figure something else out, Phoebe."

"Well I…"

"Mom, she's already here!" Chris said, finally returning to rationality. "What exactly do you suggest I do? Wouldn't it be extremely rude to just tell her that all of a sudden I _can't _take her out?"

"Yes," Phoebe said. "Exactly. Chris is right."

Piper glared between her sister and her son silently. But before either one of them could wither under her gaze he heard the sound of the toilet flush. She pointed a finger in her son's face and looked at him threateningly.

"Fine," she said in a whisper. "But no funny business, mister!"

"No funny business," Chris agreed in a whisper. Marianne appeared at the top of the stairs and Piper's intimidating look quickly morphed into a wide smile. She looked up at Marianne who seemed to be somewhat uncomfortable with whatever she had just walked in on.

"Well…you two have a great night!" She said. Marianne smiled once more, apparently eased from the tension before. "Chris…" Chris turned to look at her sharply. "You should bring her by P3 tonight."

"P3?" Marianne asked, while Chris and his mother competed in their own personal glaring contest. Piper broke it first to send the girl another smile.

"My club. I own it," Piper explained. "My sisters and I are usually there."

"Oh…." Marianne said, turning to look at Chris who was still glaring at his mother. "That sounds like fun."

Chris smiled. "Sure does. Well….we'd better be going."

"You bet!" Piper said. "You two have fun now!"

She shooed them out the door and watched them as they made their way to Phoebe's car. Chris, like a proper gentlemen opened Marianne's car door and whispered something in her ear that made her giggle. Once they drove down the street Piper turned her to family and crossed her arms on top of her belly.

"I swear to God if I am a grandmother in my thirties I am going to be _pissed_."

* * *

This place felt so much like….home. She didn't know how he did it, but he had managed to completely nail the type of place she wanted to go. With its dark mahogany tables, bar, and wall paneling, the red Persian looking carpet, the TVs plastered on the walls playing various sporting events, and the dim lighting, this place was just like a pub back home. It was wonderful, especially considering how homesick she was. The only thing missing was a pint of London Pride and a plate full of fish and chips. But, she was in America now…. and when in America…

"I'll have a cheeseburger and fries, please."

"How would you like that cooked?"

"Um….medium, please."

Chris sat across the table staring at her in amazement while she placed her order. It made her slightly nervous and not just because she wasn't particularly found of going out with people she had never met before.

"What?" Marianne finally asked after the waitress left with their orders. Chris shook himself out of his stupor and shook his head with a small laugh.

"Nothing," he said. 'It's just…I'm not used to going out with a woman who orders a cheeseburger and fries is all,"

Marianne's eyes went wide. "Was I not supposed to?"

"No!" Chris said. "No, not at all. Its just….my fiancé was a vegetarian and she was…um…athletic…" Chris said, not knowing how to put the words 'a former assassin trained in martial arts' into socially acceptable words. "She was obsessive about what she ate. It was a little tiring. Sometimes a guy just wants to order a pizza, you know?"

"Fiancé?" Marianne asked. Chris suddenly felt like banging his head against the table. Not only was this the first time he had mentioned Bianca without being emotional since she died, he had done it on a date with another woman.

"Yeah…um…" Chris began, scratching his head awkwardly. "She died a few months ago…"

"Oh my God," Marianne said. "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. Hey, let's change the subject," Chris said. "So…England."

"Yes," Marianne said, giving him an odd look. "It's on an island in Europe."

"No," Chris said, chuckling. "I mean….tell me about England. Where are you from?"

"London," Marianne said.

"What brings you to the States?" Chris asked.

"Grad School," Marianne answered with a nod of her head. "Stanford. I took some time off to come check out my options. I was hoping if I got in I might be able to live with my aunt until I get on my own two feet. What brings you to San Francisco? Elise said that you've been staying in your aunt's club?"

"Um….yeah…" Chris said. "It's just um…family stuff. I guess. I… can't really explain why I came here."

Marianne nodded. "I know the feeling."

Chris in fact knew that Marianne didn't know the feeling at all. She didn't understand that he really _couldn't _explain why he came. However, the haunted look in her eyes told him not to challenge her about it.

"So…your mom left America and now you're coming back?" Chris asked. Elise smiled in amusement.

"My Dad actually," she said. "Elise is my Dad's sister. My mum's an only child."

Chris nodded as a silence fell between the pair. God she was beautiful. It felt almost _wrong_ how beautiful he thought she was. He felt guilty in a multitude of ways. He felt as if he were betraying Bianca somehow, and then he felt guilty that he didn't really care. It had been almost a year since she had died and he was beginning to get over her. But he wasn't over her to the point where he could completely abandon his bone crushing guilt about _getting _over her. He felt guilty about his behavior toward Marianne, mostly because she seemed like a really nice girl but all he _really _wanted to do was lie her down on bed and do unspeakable things to her.

He had to remind himself that he hadn't had sex in over a year – that actually made him feel a little less guilty.

God she would sound like a choir of seraphim screaming his name.

"So what are you studying then?" Chris asked.

"Literature," Marianne answered. "Victorian."

Chris nodded and turned to look out the window behind her. He was never good at this whole small talk thing. He never knew what to say. He was much better at talking to people once he actually knew them. It created quite an impasse between him and people, but it wasn't like he was clamoring to be the most popular person in the world so he didn't really care.

"So how much did your aunt pay you to take me out?"

Chris was shocked out of his stupor by the blunt question. He didn't answer her but suddenly his eyes grew wide. Marianne simply laughed.

"Please, don't look at me like that," she said with a smile. "I'm not an idiot. It's not exactly like you're the elephant man, you know. I highly doubt you were jumping at the chance to take out some girl you've never met on your aunt's suggestion. Let's just be honest with each other."

Chris stared at her for a couple seconds longer before clearing his throat. "She….paid me a lot."

Marianne smiled and nodded. "That wasn't so hard," she said with a laugh. "I wasn't exactly thrilled about this situation either to be completely honest."

Chris watched in silence as Marianne took a sip of her drink. He was staring at her again but this time in a completely different way. This whole honesty thing had come out of nowhere and wheels were beginning to turn in his head – wheels that he wasn't entirely proud of. He cleared his throat and Marianne made eye contact with him. He placed his hand on the table and leaned forward and Marianne could tell he wanted to get down to business about something.

"In the spirit of being honest…" he said.

"Yes?"

Chris took a deep breath and encouraged himself to continue. "Look I just told you that my fiancé died not too long ago. I'm not from this….um…city and I am going to be going home soon. And…well…you're pretty much in the same position. I'm not looking for any type of relationship whatsoever. I'm not even looking for a string of casual dates. I went out with you because my aunt was desperate and I needed money and she gave it to me. That being said…" Chris cleared his throat once again and Marianne looked on intrigued. "I think you're a lovely person. And I think that if we can put all pretense of anything with any strings whatsoever happening between us tonight aside….we could still have a very fun evening together."

Marianna smiled amusedly at him across the table. Chris sat watching her as she pulled apart a piece of bread while smiling to herself. A smile crossed his face as well as he waited for her to respond. He wasn't sure if it was due to the fact that the pause was extremely awkward or if her smile was simply contagious. It was probably a mix of both.

"And your opinion wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that when I walked in the door you realized I wasn't an eight-hundred pound bald woman with acne and a wooden leg?"

Chris smirked. "Was is that obvious?"

"The look on your face was pretty sizeable giveaway, yes." Chris laughed uncomfortably. "Don't worry about it," Marianne continued. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking the same thing myself."

She blushed as she looked back down at her piece of bread and began picking it apart, this time just to have something to do with her fingers while Chris stared at her with a satisfied smile on his face. She had to agree with him. Tonight could turn out to be a spot of fun in an otherwise boring series of months.

* * *

Leo fingered the flimsy cover of _The Flowers of Evil_ delicately. Not only did the book feel as though it could fall apart at any second he felt as though he was treading in some seriously dangerous water. This was a measure he hadn't even taken when Chris had first entered their lives and he had devoted so much of his time to finding out who he was. He had never rooted through his things. He lifted the cover slowly, as if moving too fast would somehow make it that Chris would be able to know what he was doing. But he couldn't feel bad as he found exactly what he was looking for on the back of the front cover, written in the handwriting of what he assumed to be a woman.

"_I thought I'd leave little something to remember me by. I had Bianca slip this in your pocket before you left. It's full of pictures and notes from the people who love you. I knew you would put up a fight about taking anything this compromising with you so I had to do it covertly. You know this is my favorite book so you should feel honored and privileged for it to now be in your possession, and maybe once and a while you might even take a break from being your obsessive neurotic self and actually read a poem or two… you know, get a perspective on life? Too much to ask? Perhaps._

"_I'm not entirely sure how this whole changing the future business works but I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I will probably never see you again – at least not _this _me, and that's the only me that really matters at this point in time. I know I wasn't too forthcoming with my emotions when we actually said goodbye, but you know me and how hard it is for me to use the L word (and I don't mean lesbian. I have no problems with homosexuality, thank you very much)._

"_But, before I run out of space to write on this page I guess I should say that I do love you, you know. You're my favorite big brother (not that the competition is that fierce). I honestly don't know how I'm going to get by without you. But don't worry about me. I'm a big girl. I'll figure it out. I guess I've always got Jon for protection, or he has me ; ). Don't do anything stupid like get yourself killed, and try not to piss Dad off too much. I know how hard that is for you in any time. Say hi to Mom for me….or don't, that would probably be a bad idea… I love you. ~ Mellie." _

Leo's hands were shaking by the time he finished reading what this girl….his daughter had written to Chris. He didn't know why he had been deluding himself into thinking that this whole threat wasn't as big a deal as it was. He should be spending every waking moment trying to keep Wyatt safe. He was so wrapped up in the here and now. He hadn't thought about the future – not really. He hadn't thought about how this would affect their family in the future, how it would affect his kids, Phoebe's kids, Paige's kids. He hadn't thought of anything.

After reading this note the future seemed closer than ever. But the point of flipping through this book wasn't to make himself feel like a failure in the present or the future. It was to find out _something _about Chris. So far he hadn't found out much other than he had a little sister who loved him and that Chris' tendency to get under his skin was no different with the future version of himself. He needed to look on. He picked up the book because it was stuffed full of loose pieces of paper, most of which he was hoping would hold some bit of information about his son.

As he flipped through the first few pages a picture fell out. It was a younger Chris, in his early teenaged years and another slightly older, blond young man. Wyatt. It had to be Wyatt. Even though his oldest was just a year old he could see the resemblance. He raised his eyebrow at the clothes they were wearing for a moment before noticing that they were standing in front of a pumpkin. It must have been Halloween. Chris was dressed in a black suit with a blue tie, holding a bloodied croquet mallet. Wyatt was dressed casually with his short blond hair spiked upward. He was wearing a tee shirt, red zip-up sweater, and holding a small potted plant. He turned the picture upside down and saw two notes written in different hands and different inks. The first he recognized as Piper's saying, "_Wyatt and Chris as Shane and Silas Botwin – 2018._" The second was the same hand writing as the first note. Mellie's handwriting.

"_I thought I'd stuff this in there first to remind you that at one point you and Wyatt used to get along. Dare I say even love each other? Ironic how you dressed up as the psycho and he dressed up as the normal one…" _

"Hey."

Leo could have launched himself into the air with the amount of adrenaline that that sudden greeting from Piper solicited in him. He slammed the book closed quickly and stuffed it in his pocket before Piper could get a good look at it. She was, however, looking at him very intensely.

"What are you doing up here?" She asked, walking closer to him. Leo was seated at the table in the attic, in hindsight he probably should have gone somewhere a little more private. He stood up as Piper walked closer to him and leaned against the table hoping to hide the bulge in his pocket from the book he was hiding.

"I was just…." He said, at a loss. "You know, thinking."

"Right…" Piper said skeptically. "Listen, do you want to stay for dinner?"

Leo looked down at the hand he had placed on the table and began drumming his fingers as he audibly contemplated his answer with a string of 'ums' and 'uhs.' Piper raised an eyebrow. It was obvious that her ex was hiding something. Leo never did hide things well. The dead give away was usually the nervous smile playing on his face right at this very moment.

"Phoebe and Paige aren't going to be here," she continued. "It would be just you and me….and Wyatt, of course."

"Sure," Leo finally answered while meeting her eyes. "You know how I love seeing….Wyatt."

Piper nodded and silently turned around. She walked downstairs without another word and left Leo standing awkwardly by himself for a moment in the attic before following her. He wasn't ignorant to the fact that this would be the first time they were alone together for a substantial amount of time since Chris' conception. He already wasn't looking forward to it – not that he didn't want to see Piper. It was just….bound to be uncomfortable. For both of them. When he finally caught up with her she was standing over a boiling pot of water and breaking a bundle of pasta in half.

"Spaghetti with Prego?" he asked.

Piper turned around and brushed her hands together with a smirk. "Linguini Bolognaise," she corrected with a smirk. Leo smirked back. He was just teasing her, of course. As if she would ever simply boil some noodles and pour a jar of sauce over them.

"Sounds good," he said. Piper smiled and continued with the food preparation.

"Dad-uh!" Wyatt uttered happily from his high chair while pointing at his father with noodle covered fingers.

"Hey, Buddy!" Leo exclaimed. He walked over to Wyatt's highchair and squatted in front of it to get a better look at his son. "I see you're wearing your Yankees shirt. Are you trying to butter me up for something?" Leo lightly poked the little boy in the stomach and Wyatt giggled in response. Piper watched the exchange with a smile.

"As if he would have to try that hard," she said.

"I wonder if Chris likes baseball…" Leo thought out loud while he stood up. The first thing he had ever thought of after finding out that he had a son was how he was going to be able to take him to games, teach him about the greats like DiMaggio. Now he was wondering if he ever did any of that with Chris.

"He's a Red Sox fan…" Piper said, as her smirk grew so large that it almost split her face in two. She couldn't watch the color drain out of her ex-husbands face for the sheer fact that it would cause her to burst out in laughter.

"What?" Leo asked in a tone as though he had just found out that he wasn't _really_ Wyatt's father. "Why…_Why _would he be a Red Sox fan? He's lived in San Francisco his whole life! I mean I would understand if he was a Giants fan…"

Piper shrugged. "He likes the Giants too. And you've lived here your whole life too, you know. Why are you a Yankees fan?"

"Because Joe DiMaggio was my favorite player as a kid! And he is one of the best ball players of _all time_!" Leo insisted.

Piper shrugged again. "So was Ted Williams."

"Chris wasn't around to see Ted Williams!" Leo sat down at the kitchen table completely dumbfounded. How could any son of his ever be a fan of the Red Sox?

"…_and try not to piss Dad off too much…I know how hard that is for you in any time..." _

Leo look a deep breathe as he finally came to a revelation. "He became a Red Sox fan just to piss me off…" he said.

"I wouldn't put it past him," Piper said. Leo looked up at his ex-wife and smiled. It was rare that they had conversations about baseball in this house – and not just because it was full of women. It was rare to talk about anything light hearted these days.

"How did you know he's a Red Sox fan?"

"He had a game on in the kitchen a while ago when he was making a potion for something or other…"

Leo sighed and shook his head. "It's dangerous to have distractions around you when you're trying to make a potion…." He said unhappily.

Piper sighed as well and threw a now empty can of tomato paste in the trash. "Leo, he knows what he's doing," she said. "Besides what do you want me to do about it? Ground him? He's twenty-two. I just got him to call me 'Mom' for Christ's sake."

"I dunno…" Leo admitted, shaking his head. "But you're wrong. I may not know much about Chris…but one thing I _do_ know after watching him for over a year….is that he has absolutely _no _idea what he is doing…"

* * *

She didn't know what could have possibly come over her. She wasn't that type of girl. She had never had a one-night stand before in her life. What in the name of God possessed her to do something like this? Speaking of God, what would her vicar think? What would her mother think?

Oh Lord if her mother ever got wind of this she would never pay for her to go to school in San Francisco. But Elise would never tell her mother that she had been out all night after going out on a date with her coworker's handsome young nephew….would she? God she hoped she wouldn't.

Holy shit what if she was pregnant? What if she got pregnant with the child of some American bachelor that she hardly knew? Who knew how long he was even going to be in San Francisco? Who knew where he was even from? Holy shit he could be from some town in South Dakota with a population of two hundred people where they didn't have cell phone towers and the closest thing to civilization was a Wal-Mart thirty kilometers away. She was from London! She couldn't live like that. That was assuming he would even care if she were pregnant. She _could _be pregnant with the child of a man who wouldn't lift a finger to help her.

She needed to stop being ridiculous. She wasn't pregnant. They had used a condom. There was no way she was pregnant. She was just being paranoid. But, God she couldn't wait until she got her period.

What if she got some kind of disease? One in four people have herpes. She could have herpes! Or worse….she could have HIV. Dear Lord, what if she had HIV?

What on _earth _possessed her to sleep with a man she didn't know?

She felt so_…tawdry_. She was wondering around the disgusting room of some guy she barely knew collecting her knickers and clothes. It was a scene she had only ever really seen on the telly, and definitely one in which she never pictured herself staring. She had only ever been with three other men, all of which she was seriously involved with.

She had finally found her shirt when she suddenly felt a sharp intense pain at the bottom of her foot. She jumped in the air before grabbing her foot and stumbling down to sit on the small table in front of the couch, all the while biting her lip to keep from yelping in pain. "Bloody _fucking _hell!" she cursed under her breath as she maneuvered her foot to see a shredded piece of glass impaled in her skin. Taking a deep breath, she mustered up her courage and pried the intruding piece of glass out from the bottom of her foot. She pressed her thumb hard against the cut in hopes of stopping the bleeding and easing some of the pain before she slipped her shoes on again. It was really in vain, however, and she would just have to accept the fact that she was going to walk to the bus station in pain and ruin a brand new pair of shoes in the process. But it wasn't as bad as the time she had limped all the way through Leister Square in the middle of the night after impaling her foot on a broken beer pilsner in a club with blood dripping from her shoe and staining the sidewalk in the process. This was small in comparison really. Her feet and glass did not mix.

Once she stood up, she turned around to make sure that Chris had still not stirred. He was sound asleep, a feat she was certainly not able to achieve under the conditions. She had hard time getting comfortable on a couch with two people, plus she couldn't stop thinking about what a colossal mistake she had just made. But it was probably for the best. From what her friends told her the morning after a one-night-stand was awkward for all parties. Marianne liked to avoid awkwardness at all costs. Maybe she would even be able to make it home before the sun came up and she would be able to convince her aunt that she _hadn't_ in fact been gone all night.

She tiptoed as quietly as possible out of the room, and slipped through the back door of the club. As she stepped into the alleyway outside she was suddenly overcome with a gust of cold air. Fall seemed to be on its way. She stepped forward toward the direction of the street in hopes of finding a cab. In her opinion San Francisco should invest in a Night Bus service. It was just one of the many things she found herself missing about London.

Once she reached the street she found herself in luck. There happened to be a taxi driving down the street at that exact moment and she wasted no time in hailing it down. Relieved that she not only didn't get accosted in the middle of an alleyway but also didn't have to call a company and stand waiting on a curb for lord knows how long, she slipped in the back with a smile.

"1113 Carrendon Street, please," she said cheerfully.

"You know…" the driver said. "I had someplace else in mind."

As Marianne looked into his monstrous face she let out a blood-curdling scream that was quickly silenced by the wave of the taxi driver's hand.

* * *

**TBC…. **

Hope you enjoyed! Please review!


End file.
